A Stranger With A Familiar Face
by WishIHadATimeTurner
Summary: :AUVerse, see authorsnotes/summary: When Lila Spencer was 5, she was kidnapped from a kindergarten class field trip and presumed dead eventually. But when Eva Dubois is found in a wrecked car, and taken to the hospital, will a daughter and friend finally be reunited with everyone she never knew she lost in the first place? And what othr secrets will come out as a result?
1. notes, warnings, summary

AUTHORS NOTES:

I do not own General Hospital, nor do I own any of the characters/plots/misadventures that the preexisting cast wind up getting into that actually happen on the show. I'm not profiting off of this, nor am I seeking to improve my writing. I write these things for amusement and to get plot bunnies out of my head.

I do however own my original character Eva and the plot I have in mind for this story as a whole. I'm only going to keep this story going if it gets enough of a response to do so, I shouldn't even be starting another, considering I already have 2 going, but what the hell, right? The muse struck and I'm gonna roll with it as far as the muse takes me.

REVIEWS (_NOT FLAMES_) ARE LOVED.

INFORMATION:

Rating:

T/M for swearing, cat fights, maybe, and of course, an eventual lemon or two.

Setting:

Hmm.. AU past and present tense show, as I cannot decide between Diego,Johnny, Dante and Logan for a pairing for my little Eva.

Characters/Pairings:

Ensemble Cast

Original Character

** PAIRING INFO**

(Past tense) Sam x Lucky

(Presently) Sam x Jason

Maxie x Spinelli

Georgie x Dillon

Lucky x Liz

Ethan x Kristina

Michael x Kiki (even though I fucking hate Kiki to be quite honest)

(could be ending) Lulu x Dante

Others to be paired and bought in as desired, as I haven't totally decided just where I wanna take this yet.

Changes:

+++ Okay, so there are a LOT of changes I've made to the past.. I'm gonna do them in a list, so nobody gets confuzzled or something. Pay close attention to this page, it'll save you questions further down the line. If you do still have questions, then **pm me on here**, I'll gladly answer (or just fangirl with you over GH) as quickly as possible.

Sam was in town **BEFORE** she was on the show. She came back to town as a teenager, and she found Alexis then. They did not have that whole thing happen with Kristina needing Lila's marrow, either, seeing as how my oc is Lila, but a different form of Lila. You'll catch on to that as the story starts, though. Anyway, Sam is also NOT Sonny's daughter. She is still the daughter of Julian Jerome, and she dated Lucky all through high school until something happened and broke them up.

The TMK storyline **didn't** happen. I hated them taking Georgie and Logan and Diego off the show. And Georgie will be paired with Dillon, because I shipped them during that timeline.

The recent baby court case thing between Maxie and Lulu **didn't** happen either. I ship Spinelli and Maxie, so they're together and the little girl is their daughter Connie. She always has been. Lulu and Dante, however, might be breaking up, if I get any sort of feedback indicating interest in pairing Eva with Dante, who I have feels for currently.

OTHER INFORMATION:

Your job, ladies (and gentlemens, if I have any males out there reading this story too) is to vote for Eva's ultimate pairing. The choices are listed below and the first guy to 10 gets the win. Please do this? I cannot decide, I like too many of the men on the show past and present.

Choices are:

Dante

Logan

Diego

Johnny

++++ I should also mention, Lila/Eva was kidnapped when she was around 5, from kindegarten, when their class was on a field trip. She knew Georgie, Dillon, Diego, Brooklyn, Spinelli, Maxie, Lulu, Logan (who was raised by Scott in my story), and the other 20 somethings in the cast now back then.. ++++

SUMMARY

"A Daughter Is Returned"

12:30 Am, Port Charles NY

The EMT's and the local police force got called to the scene of a single car accident, which was for the most part, normal. What nobody was expecting, however, was who they pulled out of the wreckage and what would occur in the shocking aftermath. A girl they all thought dead, Lila, former classmate and friend to many on the scene, (particularly EMT Logan Hayes and Diego Alcazar, PCPD officer Dante Falconeri) was the sole occupant of the car.

The question remained, however, where had she been, and what'd been done to her to make her completely and totally forget who she used to be. An inspection of the car revealed a student ID for a female named Eva Dubois, apparently from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Did this girl just LOOK like Lila?

Or was she actually Lila?

And why now, was she finally apparently coming back to Port Charles? And how will her potential family and friends, potential love interests react to this 'new' Lila? Will everything fall into place or will they have to accept Lila as Eva and start over again?

What did Sam's father's family have to do with her daughter being taken?

When the truth comes out, lives and relationships will change. But nobody knows whether it will be for the good or the bad.


	2. my name's not lila, pt I

"C'mon, Lil.. Don't close those eyes for me.. We're gonna get you outta here, you just have to keep talking."

_a familiar Texas drawl tickled the blonde's ears as she felt herself drifting further and further out into the dark and pitch black recesses of her mind. Who was Lil? Why'd the cop and the two medics keep on calling her Lil?_

She had so many questions but right now, all she could do was try to keep breathing, keep fighting. She was too damn stubborn to go out like this, a victim of a one person car accident. She didn't even remember now, why she'd come this far away from New Jersey, where she'd lived her entire life. She didn't remember anything but her name.

Her name was Eva. Not Lil. "My name's not.." she gasped, wincing as she felt more arms grabbing for her, more shouting from outside the car, almost frantically now, and the scent of spilled gasoline tickled her nostrils. She didn't have much longer, and this thought had her frantic, furious. There was so much she hadn't done. So many things she'd said she'd do later.

"My name's not Lil." she wheezed finally as the male hauled her out of the car carefully, and she felt herself being lifted onto a stretcher nearby, just as carefully.. Someone whispered something in Spanish it sort of sounded like, and she insisted again, "My name's Eva, not Lil." for some reason, desperate for these people to know she wasn't the girl they thought she was, maybe not wanting them to worry that they'd lost a friend or a family member, should she die as a result of this accident tonight.

The cd she'd been listening to chose that moment to not skip, and the song Keep On Loving You, by REO Speedwagon filled the night. The dark haired male, as best as she could tell, he had dark hair and almost dark olive skin, said in a rush, "We gotta get her up the hill and into the ambulance.. Go.. This car's gonna blow any second. I'm gonna call the fire department and meet you guys at the hospital."

The doors to the ambulance slammed shut seconds later, and as she drifted off one last time, she heard the distinct blare of sirens. She tried to focus on anything in the back, the IV, any of the machinery, anything to keep her awake and talking, but in the end, it wasn't enough and she slipped off, succumbing to the darkness.

Which wasn't a good thing, because the darkness scared her. Sometimes, in the darkness, she heard things and dreamt things. God awful things.. Things that she almost swore at times were memories or something, they felt too real to just be dismissed as dreams. This time, thankfully, as the darkness overtook her, she was blessed with the nothingness of silence.

And she slept.

Down in the front desk area, while trying to find out what blood type their newest patient had, what medicine allergies their newest patient had, Liz Webber-Spencer gaped at the screen as she bit her lower lip. Something was off about the birth certificate, the medical records, what few there were, on the girl. She stood there in shock a moment.

Sam, a girl who'd been a friend of hers through high school, and Lucky, her present husband, had a daughter kidnapped from them when she'd been about 5. The birthdate, blood type, allergies and even a childhood picture, admitted to the medical records as evidence in a divorce case between two people who were NOT her parents, at least Liz thought currently, all lined up with their new patient being Lila Spencer.

Her hand reached for the phone, resting there tentatively at first. "It could be a coincidence." she told herself as she stared at the phone.. Even if it were a coincidence, Lucky deserved closure.. And so did Sam, even if Sam currently wasn't a friend anymore. And if this girl were Lila, then that'd be a brother for Cameron, Aiden and Jake..

As a mother, she was torn.. Call Sam and Lucky and raise their hopes only to dash them again, when it turned out that Lila and Eva were not the same person? Or keep quiet and see what else she could do to prove things one way or another, then approach them with solid proof?

Her maternal instincts trumped her instincts as a nurse and she picked up the phone, dialing the number to Sam and Jason's house, then calling her own home and waking her husband Lucky, urging them both to come down to the hospital immediately.

"When they get here, I can make them both submit DNA.. But why would she not remember anything?" Liz wondered as she paced behind the desk, waiting on Lucky and Sam.

Sam arrived first and Liz said quietly, "I'm really not supposed to do this, Sam, but when the EMT's wheeled her in here tonight.. I just got this feeling.. I knew I had to call you."

"What's wrong? Is it Kristina or Molly?"

"No, Sam.. It's Lila." Liz said quietly as she added, "Or at least I thought so. We can do a test and find out for certain once Lucky's here.. But if it is Lila, Sam... She's in bad shape.. The wreck.."

Sam stared at Liz a moment, trying to decide how to take this bombshell as Jason held a sleeping Danny and nudged her forward, saying calmly, "At least go look and see." knowing how much losing Lila then still hurt Sam now. She bit her lower lip and said quietly, "What if it's not her?"

"What if it is, Sam?" Jason asked as he placed his hand on her lower back and kissing the top of her head said calmly, "I'm right behind you.. For everything."

They made their way down the hallway, and Liz pushed open the door to the darkened room, flipping on a switch to the dimmer lighting in the room. "She's just come out of a blood transfusion, she had a surgery to close up the gashes." Liz explained as she added, "She should be awake right now."

Sam tiptoed to the bed and gasped as she looked down.

The silver gleam on the nearby lamp caught her eye, and she leaned over, reached out and took it. She gasped as she remembered the day Lucky gave Lila the same necklace she held in her hands right now and the color drained from her face.

"H-hello?" the girl said in a voice riddled with sleep, heavy with pain as she struggled to sit up, bruised ribs making the task difficult.

"Don't sit up, sweetie.. Just don't move." Sam muttered as she turned on the light completely. The girl blinked as she looked at the man and woman with a smaller child standing around her bed.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked, wincing in pain as she turned to Liz and asked quietly, "Am I allowed pain medication?"

Liz pushed the button for the medicinal drip attached to the girl, and the girl turned her attention back to the other adults in the room, waiting on an answer.

Sam blinked, her stomach sinking as she realized that for some reason or other, her daughter didn't remember her. "I'm your mother."

Lucky walked in behind Sam and as soon as he saw the girl in the hospital bed he knew.. It was Lila.. Lila was finally home. He started towards her, intent on hugging her, but she asked quietly, "Who are all of you people? Where the hell am I and what the hell am I doing here?"

"Lila, it's me.. Your dad.."

"You are not my father, and my name is not Lila. It's Eva. My parents are dead. Both of 'em." Eva said as she scratched at her long and kinky curly blondeish hair in confusion.

Nothing made sense.. What the hell was going on?


	3. my names not lila, pt II

Alexis and Luke, as well as the remainder of their families stepped off of the elevator and into the hospital lobby, all trying to talk over one another, Sam ultimately shushing them by standing on a chair and saying aloud, "Guys.. Whoa, calm down.."

"What's wrong?" Luke asked as he looked around the room. Everyone who would be here in a tragedy as far as his family went, was there, even his former wife Laura. Laura shrugged as she looked at Luke and Tracy elbowed him asking, "Do you have any idea what this is about?"

"Not a clue, Spanky, not a clue." Luke mused as Julian and Ava Jerome, Kiki made their way into the lobby.

"Who the hell called her?" Carly asked Sam who said "Julian is my father, Carly.. If Lila is really alive, I want him to meet her." before Carly said simply, "Father or not, Sam, he's.. There's just something off about him, okay? As your best friend, I'm telling you, you shouldn't keep trying to form a bond with them."

"And as your best friend, Carly, I'm going to respectfully remind you that I wanted to find my father for my whole life. And I do at least want to give him a chance." Sam said patiently as she shifted Danny from one arm to the other. Alexis caught her daughter's attention and asked, "What's going on, Sam?"

"You will know as soon as the test results come back. Until then, Mom, I don't want anyone's hopes up. I didn't want to call, but this was pretty much the only way Lucky and I could get everyone together, should this turn out to be true?"

"What?"

"Lila, mom.. She might still be alive.. And she's been in a wreck.." Sam said quietly as Kristina and Molly exchanged worried glances. They'd already had a close call with Danny recently, and for a while, Jason was supposedly dead also. Both of them vaguely remembered Lila, she'd been a few years older than Kristina, Molly had been a baby shortly before she'd been kidnapped.

"You're being serious.. Is she.. She's not going to die.. Right?"

Sam shook her head and said "But there is a problem."

Lucky stormed over, glaring angrily at the doctor he'd just been talking to as he muttered, "I keep telling him that she doesn't like the dark.. Or being alone in a room full of fucking machinery."

Sam sighed and Jason said calmly, "They can't just let anyone in, Spencer. When the results come, man, I promise.. I'll let you go in with Sam first. Until then, calm down.. No sense in getting tossed out of the hospital." as he glared at Lucky a little. Lila should have been his first child with Sam.. Not Lucky's. He'd loved Sam all along, and he hated standing back, watching the way she and Lucky were constantly hurting one another, even before Lila came he couldn't ever say Lucky hadn't been anything but the best father to Lila he could be at the time. Because Lucky had been a damn good father.

Luke caught the end of what Sam was explaining to Alexis and asked Sam, "They sure it's Lila?"

"Well, Liz showed me her medical records.. There's too much the same between the two to just write it off as a coincidence." Sam told Luke as she added, "But just to find out for sure, we're having a DNA test done."

"How bad was she hurt in that wreck?" Laura asked as she looked at Lucky's former high school girlfriend with a concerned look.

This question Logan fielded, as he stood and said "She had a few bruised ribs, lost one hell of a lot of blood. Me and Diego were the EMT's that answered the call." as Lulu glared at him and asked, "So? Why are you still here?"

"She was my best friend, Lulu.. Or don't you remember that? Naturally, you probably only remember all the fightin you two did." Logan mused as Diego nudged him and hissed, "Mind keeping your ass outta the sling, Hayes?"

"What? It's the truth."

"Okay, damn it, let's not fight." Lucky said with a stern look as Ellie Trout walked out into the slightly crowded lobby and said quietly, "The test results just came.. I.. I thought I'd let Samantha and Lucky open them."

Lucky took the envelope, ripping into it, as Sam stood beside him impatiently. He gaped at the paper in shock as it fluttered from his hand and to the floor. Sam asked impatiently, "Well?"

"She's... That's Lila in there.." Lucky sat down, processing the news. Sam took a few deep breaths and then said quietly, "I knew it.. I just felt it, as soon as I saw her." before remembering the rest of their present situation.

"She doesn't remember anything from early childhood. As a result, she thinks her name is Eva Dubois, and she's from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She doesn't remember why she was coming into Port Charles when she wrecked, either.. So when we all go in there, do not put any pressure on her to remember." Liz instructed as Sam mouthed, "Thank you." and then looked at Jason. Jason took Danny and kissing her forehead he said "Go on.. You deserve to go first.. Uncle Jase will get time with her sooner or later."

Sam smiled at him and Lucky stood, walked into the hallway of the ICU wing. Just in time to see a bedpan fly out the door. "What the hell do you mean I'm not Eva Dubois?" a very angry female voice shrieked as they looked at one another and sighed.. This was going to be a long and slow, possibly painful process.. But hopefully, they could figure out the problem and why she remembered nothing from before the age of 6, and as her parents, help her regain her memory eventually.

Out in the waiting room, the rest of her family, some of her old friends sat processing the news.. Just how was everyone going to adjust to this? And how was Eva going to adjust to the situation?

The door to her room opened a few seconds later and Eva looked at the woman and one of the men from earlier, when she'd first woken up with a raised brow. She muttered quietly, "Look.. Sorry about before.. But I swear to you, both of you, I am not this Lila person. My name is Eva Dubois and I'm a junior in junior college in a town in New Jersey called Cherry Hills.. Maybe it's just some kind of coincidence and I happen to look like her?"

Lucky sighed as he looked at Sam and then said "We thought so too.. At first.. But we had your dna tested against ours.. And it came back a match.. Do you really not remember anything?"

Eva bit her lower lip.. Okay, so the two people seemed familiar.. But if they were her parents, then who the hell had raised her? And how the hell had she wound up with them in the first place.. She felt this connection to the two people in her room right now, so she sighed and said "Okay, alright.. But I'm telling you, this has to be some sort of freak accident."

"It's not, sweetie." Sam said quietly as Lucky fluffed the pillow behind her head and asked, "How the hell did you wreck? You weren't speeding or drinking.. Right?" while looking at her in concern.

"No.. I wasn't drinking.. I don't think I was speeding, I'm not sure.. The whole accident's a little fuzzy, sir.." she said quietly as she tried to keep herself calm.. Maybe if she played along until they discovered the truth.. Maybe she'd finally see what it felt like to have a real family at Christmas...


	4. my names not lila, ptIII

The door opening quietly had her sitting up, looking around, wincing as a fresh wave of pain hit her. She'd just calmly explained to the man and woman from before, that her name was Eva Dubois, and she couldn't possibly be their long lost daughter Lila, because she'd been born in, and raised in, according to her birth certificate, in Cherry Hills, New Jersey, and she'd drifted off into a nap where it seemed like things she remembered fought with the bizarre and realistic feeling 'dreams' she often had were battling one another.

Now, she was awake, in the semi darkness, scowling at herself. "I don't need to let what they said get to me.. So maybe they do have the same DNA as me.. Maybe they're distant relatives and I happen to remind them of Lila." she muttered as she raked her hand through her blondeish brown hair slowly. Even as she muttered those words, she had to admit, that something within her didn't actually believe them.

A quiet and calm male voice spoke from the chair across the room. "Good, you're awake." the man said as the lights came on, flooding the small and white room with light, stinging her eyes. She hadn't been sleeping well lately, the hospitalization for her wreck hadn't remedied that nor had it changed it for the worse. Now nothing made any sense, because in addition to not remembering her life from a young age, before the age of 6 or 7 roughly, she also didn't remember the circumstances that lead her here, to Port Charles, where she had the wreck.

And that was frustrating her.

Jason walked over and said quietly, "Your mom.. She says you don't remember anything from before.. Or anything a few hours before the accident." as Eva looked up at him and nodded then said calmly, "Yeah, that's pretty much the size of it.. I mean maybe they're distantly related to me or something sir, but those people? Are not my parents.. Maybe I just look like the daughter they lost?"

"They are your parents. But the doctors told us not to force anything on you. You'd remember on your own eventually.. If it helps, Lila, I'm here, and I've been through a similar situation.. The memory loss, the frustration that comes from it.. I'll gladly listen." Jason said quietly as Eva nodded and then corrected him politely, "It's, umm, it's Eva, sir.."

Jason nodded. For now, he'd call her Eva.. But he had absolute faith that sooner or later, she'd remember who she was and what happened to her when she was smaller, how she'd been kidnapped.

Until then, he and Sonny were going to do whatever it took to find out who might have taken her and why and what happened to her during the two years that were missing from her life records wise and mentally.

"So, umm, assuming I believe this whole bizarre thing, sir, how do I know you from before?" she asked, her warm brown eyes piercing his blue eyes intently, a serious and solemn look on her face. She looked every bit the stern Davis girl at that moment, Jason found himself musing as he answered simply, "Well, when you were little, you called me Uncle Jay. I'm married to Sam, your mother, now." Jason said carefully as he left out anything that might lead to trigger of a false memory or would be harmful to her in some way, even though he ached almost to tell her just how close they'd been when her mother and real father, Lucky, had been having really big problems, and were thinking of seperation before she got kidnapped as a child.

Eva mulled it over.. She had this bizarre memory or wide awake dreamlike moment, and she quickly dismissed it. His voice just.. It sounded familiar somehow.. Just as the other man from a few hours before, the woman who claimed to be her mother, their voices had too. But his, she kept hearing him reading things, like he were reading some kind of tour guide or something..

"Are you alright?" Jason asked, studying her intently, trying to gauge whether she might be remembering something, or not. He had the feeling she was, she was just doing what any other normal person in her position would do, and trying to convince herself that surely the two people who'd raised her since she'd been kidnapped weren't lying to her.

A knock on the door sounded and Liz peeked in, signalled Jason out into the hallway as she said quietly, "So she still insists that somehow this is all a lie.. Sam's going to dig around.. But I might have found something to help her.." as she held out a folder and looked around then said "Don't ask me how or what they are, just let Sam see them, please? It might explain a lot." as Jason nodded and opened the folder.

Initials signing off on hospitilization in a mental hospital had him raising a brow, growling under his breath in anger. "Who the hell signs off to have a child hospitalized at the age of 7?"

"Apparently, Jason, someone with something to hide. If Sam finds out who's initials those are, she might just find who took Lila from her.." Liz said as she sighed and said "It's not much, but it's something to go on. I'm just hoping that somehow, all of this will correct itself.. Her not remembering Lucky.. It's killing him because he wants to say so much he didn't get to then, and he can't because the doctors warned us all how it might hurt her and hinder her recovery.. Patrick's seen them already, he's going to consult with her doctor from the facility, see what he can't get out of the guy."

"And I'll give these to Sam right now." Jason said as he gave her a slight smile and said calmly, "Thanks.. And tell Lucky that I think deep down, she is starting to remember things.. She just... She looked like it just now.." before stepping into the room again, only to find Eva/Lila watching the television, watching the movie The Breakfast Club intently.

"I'll come by again tomorrow and see you if you want?" Jason asked, cutting through the silence. Something about the way he stood leaned in the doorway triggered another memory, another memory of which the two from earlier were involved in also, fighting, loud and noisy and she winced.

"Are you in pain?" Jason asked in concern as Eva/Lila shook her head and said "No, it's just.. Nevermind.. I'm not even sure anymore what's real and what's pretend.. I fucking hate this, not being able to remember."

Jason gave an understanding nod and then said "I'm gonna go, but like I said.. My number's on the notepad beside the bed, so are your mom's numbers and your dad's. If you need any of us, call us.. Your stepmother, Liz, actually works here. Just push the call button and ask for her, if you need something also."

He turned and walked out, leaving Eva to what she thought would be a few moments peace, but the door opened again, and the EMT that'd pulled her out of her car walked in.

Logan stared at her a moment, not sure what he could and couldn't say. He missed his best friend, of course, and he wanted to make sure she was alright before he clocked out and went home. "Hi.."

"Hey." Eva said as she let her gaze linger in his a moment, raked her hand through her hair as she said in a quieter voice, "Thanks for saving my ass earlier."

"It's kinda my job, darlin." Logan muttered with a slight chuckle as he looked up at the tv and groaned inwardly, recognizing the movie playing as one she'd watched a lot when they were kids. "That crap, really?"

"This movie, sir, is not crap. It a classic. Fact." Eva stated as she studied him a moment.

He seemed familiar to her also.. Everyone she'd met since she somehow mysteriously came to Port Charles and wound up wrecking, nearly dying, had.

"It's crap.. Even if it is a classic." Logan intoned boredly, snickering a little as he watched shades of his childhood best friend surfacing for a moment as she pouted at him.

In that moment he found himself wishing that she hadn't gotten taken, that she had grown up around here. What would their friendship have been like during those pesky and horomone filled teenage years?

"I'll show you crap." she muttered as she bit her lower lip, wincing and making a face at the coppery taste of dried blood on her lip. The speakers in the hallway kicked on and a monotone machine voice announced the end of visiting hours. Logan sighed and said "There's probably gonna be a lot more of us in and outta here, Blondie.. Just wanted to come by, make sure ya were alright." before walking out of the room.

Eva scratched her head and stared at the door and then shrugged, her warm brown eyes catching a moment on the numbers her stepfather/uncle or whatever he was to her, assuming she believed this bizarre thing to begin with.. She picked up the phone and took a deep breath, dialing her 'mother's' number. And just as Sam went to pick up, she hung up the phone quickly and reminded herself aloud, "You don't even know if these people are all imagining things, or if this is all some sick joke.. Besides, it's nearly 9 pm now.. She did have a kid with her."

She made herself turn her attention back to the television while her mind waged an intense mental debate as to what was going on, and why she couldn't remember anything she needed to remember.. Most importantly, why she felt like her 'parents' the ones who'd raised her, who claimed to actually be her parents when they were alive, were lying the entire time.

The door opened quietly and Lucky walked back in, his sons with him, urging the three boys to be quiet, that sissy was hurting right now, and she needed rest. "I wanted to come by before I went home, make sure you were okay.. I can't stay long, I just.."

Eva smiled weakly as she looked at the 3 little boys with him and then said in a quiet voice, "It's okay, really.. I just.. I hope this all doesn't turn out to hurt you and that nice lady from earlier, when you both find out there is no way I can possibly be Lila Spencer."

Lucky nodded and said quietly, "Even if we're not.. I hope you'll stick around.. I found out you lost your parents relatively young.. Everyone needs family." as he studied her intently. Of course, he knew she was his daughter, she just had to remember that, and maybe keeping her here, under the guise of being kind to her, given the hard life she'd had since being taken from her mother and himself.. Maybe it'd help spark some small shred of recognition.

Eva sighed and said "Yeah.. I can stay, I suppose.. I mean there had to be a reason I was coming here in the first place, right? And it's not hard, sir, when you learn to adjust to it, you finally make yourself live with it.. Only really hurts at Christmas, other holidays when my family used to gather, we were all together.. I mean for a few years there, at least... After i had my episode.. They stopped having family gatherings at home.." Eva muttered quietly as she thought back to that particular meltdown, how she'd screamed at her father that he wasn't her father, that her mother was not her mother.. She looked at it now, and she couldn't help but wonder, what if she'd been right and not just having a fit of some kind, being a cranky and slightly mean spirited child that night? Something had triggered her fit that night, but she just couldn't remember what it was, exactly...

Lucky studied her a moment, filed the little slip of information away for later to look into then after saying goodbyes, also making a promise to return, he left too.. The phone on her bedside table rang and she heard Sam's voice.

"Hi.. I wanted to call and thank you, apologize for earlier.." Eva said as Sam sighed and said "It's fine.. If I woke up, found myself in that situation, Eva, I'd probably have reacted the same way." while trying her best not to push the issue that Eva was Lila any farther, Patrick's warnings from earlier replaying in her mind.. It'd been touch and go with Jason too.

She bit her lower lip as she read over the file Jason handed her when he'd come in from the hospital. She'd been reading it for about 2 hours now, and she sat in stunned disbelief and anger.. Whoever had taken Lila from had went to great lengths to ensure that the truth never came out by institutionalizing her when she was probably around 6 or 7, shortly after she'd been taken.

But why do that to a kid?

The anger, as a mother, that she felt right now, was surging as she asked, "Do you know if any of your family members have the initials EAJ?"

Eva scratched her head, trying to remember. She couldn't recall those initials belonging to any of her family, and they hadn't been the initials of her mom or her father..

"Not really, no. I mean my brain's a mess right now." Eva admitted as she asked, "You're a private investigator, right?"

Sam said calmly, "Yeah, why?"

"Can you do something for me? I mean I'll pay you whatever you ask.. Can you try and figure out why I was in Port Charles?" Eva asked, biting her lower lip as she waited on the brunette on the other end of the phone line to respond. Sam sighed and said "It'll be hard, but I can try.I need to know everything you remember."

"I remember feeling panicked right before it happened. The phone was ringing and I just remember going into shutdown mode, freaking out. Like I sensed that I was doing something tht someone didn't want me to do.. Then it all happened so fast..."

Sam nodded and then said "I'll see if someone will let me look at the car."

"Please?" Eva asked before thanking her for the visit earlier, and hanging up, flopping back against the mattress. All of that just now, it'd exhausted her, she'd been pushing to remember something all day.

Now if only she could distinguish her memories from dreams and make sense of everything. She got this feeling that the biggest piece of the puzzle was locked away in her mind, and she had to make herself remember things she might not want to, to find it.


	5. the truth begins to unravel,ptI

_The phone kept ringing and each time she heard it ring, she just had this feeling that someone didn't want her knowing the truth. Someone, for whatever reason, had taken her from her parents when she was younger, and they'd covered it up somehow. And she'd made the decision as soon as she found out, to go back to where it all supposedly started, do some digging and see if it might be true._

_The anonymous letters and emails she'd been getting for a few months now can't have been totally false. They can't have been based on complete bullshit, and something told her that her whole supposed 'mental health issues' stemmed from whatever she might discover._

_And she'd been about to give up and leave town, when she'd ran into someone as she was leaving a bar.. And that someone followed her out of the bar and called her by the name the letters called her, "Lila Spencer", stopping her in her tracks as all sorts of things she'd been raised to believe delusions flooded her mind, from birthdays and school plays, to a first kiss on the cheek from a boy in her kindegarten class, at a Christmas play she'd been in.._

_"You really shouldn't be here." the voice said calmly as it paused, a lighter came out, a cigarette was lit. After a few moments, the voice continued, "You should leave now, little girl. Because what was done? Was done for your own good. You had a good life, kid, so it's not like you were tortured or anything.. Why go digging?"_

_"Because, you son of a bitch, someone **wants** me to know, apparently. And I do not like being lied to. And besides, I'm giving up. I found nothing here, absolutely nothing."_

_"Just remember, kid.. When you go digging around in closets, sometimes you don't wanna know what skeletons are gonna come tumbling out. We'll be in touch. Oh and you might wanna watch it on your way out.. Cars have a way of 'failing'."_

_Despite the chill in her bones at the warning, Eva got into the car and stared for a moment at her cell phone. For a few moments, she debated on calling her friends and checking in, letting them know the whole thing had obviously been some kind of sick joke and she was on her way back, but for some reason or another, she tossed her cell phone onto the seat in the car instead and despite everything in her telling her to pull over, she sped out of town, intent on getting out, intent on putting this whole bizarre thing behind her._

_Apparently the anonymous notes and emails were written by a prankster or someone who wanted to toy with her or something. Given her mental history, which most everyone who knew her, knew about, she made no secret of it, she wasn't a fan of lying to anyone unless she absolutely had to, of course, it could be more than one of a few people who had something against her for one reason or another. She wasn't a perfect person of course, and she was a reporter for the campus newspaper, that alone made her quite unpopular at times._

_So anyone could have done it.. She grumbled a little as she said through gritted teeth, "Whoever set this up.. Well played. Well played, indeed." and concentrated on getting out of town, getting away from all this as quickly as possible._

_The car came out of nowhere, speeding right on her bumper, the lights blinding her almost. She stomped the gas pedal and then it happened. She felt the car losing it's grip, losing control, but she knew it was too late to stop it from happening. Just as her world went black, she remembered the words of the hidden in the shadows man back at the bar, and she remembered everything about her life._

_She had just enough time to feel rage at being taken from her parents before she completely lost consciousness and everything went black for good this time, as the scent of leaking gas filled her nostrils._

* * *

Eva sat up in bed, gasping for breath as she felt around for the light's switch, locating it, turning it on. She couldn't remember much from the nightmare she'd just had, and a few things were fuzzy, but one thing she did know now, was that for whatever she'd come to town looking for, in the first place, apparently, she'd been much closer than she thought originally, and her accident.. Well, according to what she'd just either dreamt or remembered, if it weren't just another mental breakdown, according to her 'parents' as a child, she'd had a few of them for whatever reason, her accident hadn't been an accident.

And whoever had done it, had been acting under orders from their boss.

But why was she so important? And what did the mysterious 'speaker' in the parking lot of the bar that night mean when he told her that she would have been 'used' against him, her real family could have been harmed?

The door opening had her shoving her thoughts aside and Liz stepped in and asked, "Are you still in a lot of pain?"

"Mhmm." she said as she took the pills that Liz held out to her and thanked her then asked, "Can you call someone for me?"

"Who?"

"Sam, that woman who comes to visit.. I remembered something and I wanna tell her. I'm almost damn sure that whatever this is, it's bigger than I thought." Eva murmured as Liz raised a brow, but did as Eva/Lila asked her, and called Sam.

"She woke up from a nightmare, and she seemed upset, Sam. That's all I know. She's just acting plain jittery right now." Liz explained as Sam sighed and said "I'm on my way right now. Lucky's getting ready to look at her car, maybe there will be something inside of it that'll explain what's going on and why she was back home on her own free will, despite obviously believing she's not Lila." Sam said as she grabbed her keys, a jacket and her son, Danny. "We're gonna go see big sis."

Danny cooed, smiling.

Sam sighed and said yet another of many silent prayers that whatever had happened to Lila could be fixed and that it would be fixed soon. All she wanted was answers and her daughter back at this point, nothing else mattered.

And everything she'd found out about Lila's 'life as Eva', it made her skin crawl, it disturbed her. No wonder she was so confused now. She'd probably been confused her entire life, the temporary amnesia resulting from the accident, of course, only made things so much worse.


	6. the truth begins to unravel,ptII

"So you remember that you had a confrontation with someone, at the Floating Rib, right before your accident? And that this person, that you convieniently could not see, made a veiled threat?" Sam asked her daughter as Alexis looked on, face full of concern, shifting Danny from one side of her lap to the other.

Eva/Lila nodded and raking her hand through her dirty blonde-brown hair adding, " In my car, there's a flash drive. If there's anything left of it, that is.. It was hooked into my cd player, because it also held music. The other stuff's encoded. The whole time I was looking into these weird letters and emails an anon person kept sending me, I kept having really, really weird shit happen to me, so I copied everything over to a flash drive and then had a hacker buddy of mine at the university I go to encode it. She and I are the only two people who can crack the code."

Sam jotted down everything her daughter was telling her and then said calmly, "That's it.. Until things are figured out, you're getting a guard for this room." as Eva/Lila shook her head and said "Sam, with all due respect, even if you get a guard here 24/7, if they want this quiet? It'll stay quiet."

"What were the emails and letters about?" Alexis asked as she studied her granddaughter intently. Eva/Lila sighed and leaning her head back against the few pillows on the bed she said quietly, in an almost inaudible voice, "My whole life as I know it being some kind of a lie.. The anon person claimed that they had proof that I was taken from my parents."

As soon as she spoke the words, Alexis got one person in mind and muttered to herself "Julian." which of course, made Sam look at her with a raised brow and ask "What's my birth father got to do with this?"

Alexis sighed and said "It's just a suspicion I get. If someone were going to do this, it'd be either because of him, or on his bidding. And clearly, somehow, he's involved.. I mean he did just waltz in here and pay off her hospital bill and the remainder of her student loans?" as Sam nodded and then muttered "After I specifically told him I had all that taken care of." and the wheels in her own mind began to turn, fresh anger began to surge.

The door opened and Sam groaned inwardly as Johnny Zacarra walked in the door. "What are you doing here?" she asked as she looked at Johnny then at her daughter. She'd never been fond of Johnny around Lila, but for some reason, when Johnny needed someone to protect him, Lila had usually wound up being that person. They'd had a sort of brother/sister relationship when she was a kid and neither Sam nor Lucky liked it then, they really didn't like the prospect of it picking back up now, when they were both older.

But if there was one thing they knew about their little girl, it was that she was headstrong. It was a Spencer thing, and she'd gotten it in spades, apparently, if the things Sam discovered about her daughter's life in New Jersey were anything to go by.

Eva/Lila studied Johnny quietly, a blank look on her face.. She got this feeling that she should know him from somewhere, like she had been with everyone else, but again, she just wasn't sure, thanks to her 'supposed' mental illness and memory losses as a kid and now, whether she should try harder to remember or not.

She got this feeling of danger off of the guy too.

"Heard my girl was awake." Johnny muttered as he asked, "They're treating you okay in here, right Lil?"

"My name's Eva, do I know you?" Eva/Lila asked as she fixed her warm brown eyes on him, gazing at him intently. He nodded and said with a teasing grin, "Yeah, they told me ya weren't gonna remember anything. Let's just say you're like the sister I never had. For now. And my name's Johnny.. You always used to call me Jon though."

Eva/Lila nodded and Alexis asked impatiently, "Shouldn't you be off doing community service or seeing your parole officer or something?"

Johnny gave her a look and then answered calmly, "Not until I make sure Eva's alright. Heard you sayin you need a guard here?"

Sam and Alexis exchanged looks as Sam said calmly, "And I'm sure her father or her stepfather Jason will take care of that, Johnny."

"Yeah.. How about no.. I got nothing better to do, remember? Just got released from prison, I'm a free man now. On a technicality.. So I think that I owed Eva here something.. And I'm gonna be the one to guard her." Johnny insisted, Sam and Alexis both exchanging glances.

The door opened again and Jason gave a warning cough as he asked calmly, "What in the hell is he doing in here?" while giving Johnny a blatant 'get the fuck out of my kid's room' look. Eva/Lila, of course, noticed the tension, it was thick enough in the air right now that she could practically cut it with a knife, so she spoke up and asked Johnny, "What do you owe me?"

"When we were kids.. My dad was a real piece of work.. One night, he had an episode, and I ran out, down to the park.. Where I ran into you.. And you saw the bruise and the bloody nose, and after bumming a first aid kit from your aunt Bobby, you took me to some 'tree house' your dad built ya in the woods, hid me out there for a week.. Came to play poker with me, bought me food, a pillow, blankets. You, Eva, were probably the only person in this whole damn town that looked past me bein a mobsters kid and got to know me. So I kinda told ya that if you ever need me, I'd be there." Johnny muttered as he held her gaze.

Eva/Lila mulled it over and then biting her lower lip asked, "Mind if I ask what the hell you went to prison for?"

"Took the rap for someone else. Not a big deal, not something you wanna hear about."Johnny answered vaguely as he looked at her. He got this feeling that she did actually remember everyone, but the temporary amnesia from the accident, the stuff she went through as a kid after she'd gotten kidnapped kept her confused.

People talked in Port Charles and the return of Lila Spencer was almost as hot a topic right now as the whole bizarre and frankly, disgusting love triangle between Michael and Morgan, Kiki Jerome and her own damn mother. So he knew pretty much everything that'd happened to Lila while she was gone. And if he found who did it before Jason or Lucky?

God rest their souls, they were dead where they stood. She was like family to him, like a little sister.. Even Claudia hadn't had the heart to turn the little girl away when she'd show up at the Zacarra mansion after school, having snuck off on her own, on her dirtbike, to play with him, to teach him the stuff she'd learned at Port Charles Middle School.

The door opened again and Logan stepped in, glaring at Johnny, giving Eva/Lila a smile as he asked, "Feelin better today, hon?"

Eva/Lila managed a laugh as she asked hopefully, "Only if you're coming in here to tell me that I'm free to go?" while looking at him, managing a slight smile.. The tension between the guy Johnny and the guy Logan was almost as thick as the tension between everyone else in the room and Johnny. For a few split seconds, she felt torn in two.

Like both guys had a place in her heart and her memories, but she just wasn't sure what either of their places actually was. And then there was that other guy, Dante, who'd stopped in to talk to her for almost 2 hours... Things were so much simpler before she started digging into a past she didn't even know might be a reality.

She was starting to quickly see this.

"Actually, provided you stay with someone, Eva.. You're gonna be free to go around 12 today." Logan said as he looked at the chart on the foot of her bed and then gave her a bright smirk.

"Good. That means I can help you, Sam.. Trust me.. If that flash drive still exists, you're going to need my help encoding the thing." Eva/Lila said as Jason gave Sam a raised brow and Sam shook her head as she and Alexis both said "Oh no.. You are going to rest and heal."

Eva/Lila pouted a moment and then sighed. Okay, so maybe actually having a family this Christmas, for the first time in a long time, was something worth just enjoying, and resting for.. She got the feeling that the large group of people she'd seen thus far was nothing that compared to what would descend upon her once she was out of the hospital.

She wasn't sure if she should dread that or welcome it.

Jason asked Sam quietly, "Flash drive?"

Sam whispered back, "Let's just say our little Lil Bit is still as nosy as she was when she was a kid.. That habit, apparently, got her in this hospital bed. I'll explain it all to you and Lucky tonight at the diner, when I show you both what I have managed to find on her. Since it concerns both of you and me." as she smiled and spoke up, "There's a room for you at my house."

"Are you sure, I mean I can just stay in a hotel... It's really not a big deal.." Eva/Lila insisted as Sam shook her head. Liz, however spoke up and said "There's actually your old room at your father's house.."

Eva looked back and forth between the two women and that's when it happened again.. She started to have another memory, this time, she was probably around 3, the brunette woman with the brown eyes, Sam, was fixing her hair, getting her ready to go somewhere...

_'Why did Daddy go?' a 4 year old Lila asked her mother as Sam bit her lower lip, the question hurting her almost as much as Lucky's admitting that he didn't feel things for her like he used to, that their marriage was not going to work, not when she loved Jason so much and he loved Liz as much as he did. That to keep it together for Lila wasn't a good idea. He'd moved out, they'd split Lila's time between the two of them as evenly as they could. But with their families being so large..._

_Christmas was a huge problem.. Like this year.. She'd be spending Christmas Eve's Eve with Lucky and Liz, and given the tension between the two women right now, Sam had her reservations about sending Lila to them. She and Liz hadn't ever actually gotten along well, they'd pretended to for the most part._

_'Because, Lil Bit.. Sometimes, when you're an adult, things don't go like you planned.. And it hurts, but not as bad as it would if Daddy stayed, or if I wouldn't have started seeing Uncle Jase.'_

_A giggle escaped the 4 year old's lips as she heard her 'godfather's' name being mentioned. "But I will get to see you and Unca Jase for Christmas.. Right?"_

_"We promise. Just try to remember, your mommy and your daddy love you so much.. Things just.. They didn't work out for us.. And we didn't want to hurt you in the long run." Sam said as she fought back tears. She reminded herself again that this had to happen to make all four of them, the adults in this, truly happy and in the long run make Lila truly happy._

_The doorbell rang and Lila pouted as she muttered "I just hope Daddy's not gonna burn my grilled cheese again." and Sam laughed a little as she slid Lila's jacket on her and picked her up, carried her to the door of the apartment. She scowled when she opened it and Liz stood there, arms out. "Where's Lucky? Lucky always picks her up."_

_"He got called out to an accident in the Barrens. He said it'd be alright if I came to get her, Sam. You can trust me with Lila."_

_Sam bristled at this but sighing she said "You just be good for Ms. Liz, okay, Lil Bit?" as Lila nodded and looked from her mother to her father's new girlfriend. She sort of had mixed feelings about the lady, but she seemed nice enough..._

"Are you alright?" Jason asked in concern as Eva/Lila spoke up and said quietly, "I just remembered something I think.."

"What?" Sam and Alexis asked in unison as Danny reached out for his older sister, who took him and lie him in bed next to her, before raising herself in the bed slightly and saying, "I was 3. You and that woman, the nurse, were standing in the doorway of an apartment, staring one another down. Apparently, my father sent her to pick me up when he always came instead and for one reason or another, you didn't seem happy with it?" Eva/Lila said as she held Danny against her, smiling at him a little..

Now that she looked at the kid... They did share a few similar facial features.. Button noses that turned up slightly, slightly chubby cheeks, full lips..

The heartbeat in her chest wooshed to her ears making it hard to hear as she looked at the adults in the room, waiting to see if it was just a very vivid dream, or a real memory.

Liz nodded and Sam sighed and nodded as they both said "Christmas.. You were 3 when that happened."

At that moment, she could have fainted.. If that was true, then how much of the other 'episodes' she'd dismissed over the years as dreams were also true?


	7. conflicting emotions, pt I

She looked around the apartment as she stood in the doorway, her one bag of clothing and possessions slung haphazardly over her shoulder. This place had been the subject of many of her 'dreams' in the past. Even just standing here, she felt this inexplicable connection to the apartment, to the people in it.

After all, she'd remembered before leaving the hospital that Sam was in fact her mother and the police officer, Lucky Spencer, was in fact her real father. Now all she had left was to remember everything and everyone else, and remember what the hell happened to her when she was a child, how she'd managed to get kidnapped, and why.

And she'd apparently been more close to the truth than she realized the night her car went off the road and wrecked almost killing her in the process. The memories of that night were still fuzzy at best, but she was starting to realize that it wasn't an accident.

Someone wanted to keep her from reconnecting with her real family, from discovering the truth, but why?

Jason spoke up from behind her, asking quietly, "Are you alright?" as he looked at her intently. She nodded and stepped completely into the apartment, Jason said with a slight smile, "Your old room is down the hall.."

She followed him down the hall, and peered over his shoulder, into the blinding bright pink room. She groaned and muttered, "It's pink.. I fucking liked pink as a kid?" shaking her head at herself.

Jason studied her a moment and laughing a little said quietly, "You didn't only like pink.. You loved pink.. Just like Brenda, your mom's friend."

"Whoa.. Brenda, as in the supermodel who's from here? Brenda Barrett?"

"Mhmm. She babysat you a lot." Jason explained as Eva/Lila nodded, raked her hand through her hair and looked around the room which looked currently, as if it were frozen in time. There were dolls here and there, childrens books, a white wicker chair and white wooden vanity table, and a white four poster bed with a pale pink tulle canopy draped over it.

Eva/Lila looked down at her scuffed black engineer boots, her ripped and torn skinny jeans and her black tanktop with it's oversized red and black plaid long sleeve shirt and she started to laugh a little.

Jason eyed her a moment and she explained, "Obviously, I'm waaay different than I was then, Uncle Jase."

Her calling him by his name without anyone prompting her shocked him and he blinked then smiling said "Repeat what you just called me?"

Eva/Lila thought it over and then muttered quietly, "Wait.. I remembered your name.. It's Jason.. Isn't it?"

He nodded and then said "What are your parents names?"

"Lucas Spencer Jr and Samantha Davis Spencer?" she asked as his slight smirk confirmed that she'd gotten this right, also. She did a victory jump then winced as she remembered the pain.

"Smooth move."Jason joked with her as he looked at his watch and said "Time for pain medicine." handing her a bottled water, and the bottle of perscription pain medication she had to take for a while now.

She gave him a playful dirty look and then a pout when she opened the bottle and actually saw the pills, but Jason insisted, "Take them. Trust me. You think you're okay without them, but when you feel the pain they're keeping you from feeling right now.."

She nodded and gulped the pills down, finished off the water then ran off down the hallway, to the room she'd seen Sam, her mother going into. Sam looked up at the door as it burst open and she asked with a smile, "Everything alright?"

"It's great. I remember more and more with everything I actually see.. I remember you.. And Uncle Jason.. And Dad." Eva/Lila admitted as Sam clapped and then hugged her daughter before shutting the office door and then saying quietly, "They got the forensics back on your car. I was about to come down and tell you. That's why I came on in here, your father.. He was faxing the information to me."

Eva/Lila nodded and asked, "Well?"

"Your brake line was cut. Someone did tamper with your car.. That man you heard but didn't see.. How far away from your car were you? Don't push yourself to remember, but if you remember anything about that night, you need to tell your father and I immediately." Sam said calmly as Eva/Lila sat down, rubbed her head in thought and then said quietly, "He was maybe a few parking spaces away from it. He could have easily tampered with it."

Sam nodded and wrote that down for later, and then held up the gun that Lucky found in her glovebox as well as a knife they found on her person after admitting her to the hospital. "Now you're going to explain these?" Sam asked as Eva/Lila nodded and said with a casual shrug, "I'm not a likable person?"

"So you've been threatened before?" Sam asked, brows knitting in concern.

"You could say that, yeah.. Not to mention the junior college I go to, Sam.. Or Mom I mean.. It's not exactly the beacon of safety." Eva/Lila pointed out as she added, "The apartments I live in have been broken into at least 5 times this year alone."

"Which is why I really think you should consider making the move to Port Charles.. I mean, no pressure.. But you are remembering more now.." Sam pointed out as Eva/Lila studied her a moment, thoughtfully and quietly.

"I'll see what happens." Eva/Lila said quietly, not making any promises. For one reason or another, she'd always sort of been the kind of girl who liked the freedom, she liked to take off and ramble.

For a 25 year old, she already had quite a few stamps in her passport. Which happens when your so called parents 'die' leaving you alone at a young age, leaving you to fend for yourself totally, at a young age.

She knew more about survival than most girls her age should ever have to know. She'd had to do things, make herself okay with doing whatever it took to make sure she was taken care of in the end.

Sure, her so called parents, or the people who'd probably taken her and raised her as their own had been well off and they'd left her enough money to be more than comfortable, but she wasn't out blowing it. She used it carefully and wisely.

"That's fair enough." Sam said as she watched her daughter, concerned. She knew a little of what she'd been through, but she got the feeling that the few years that she'd yet to account for, when Lila/Eva was a teenager, were because she'd been either in hiding, or she'd been institutionalized again. She knew that the people who might have taken her had died when Lila/Eva was around 16 or so.

And Sam wondered now, if her daughter had been alone every since.

"I mean it's not you guys.. It's not that at all.. I'm just.. I'm used to being alone." Eva/Lila said as she studied her mother, then sighed as she asked, "Did you find anything else about my wreck?"

"Just that Lucky and the others on the force are now convinced it's not an accident." Sam admitted as she added, "If you wanna talk.. About anything.. I'm right here.. You're home now, you're not alone anymore."

Eva/Lila nodded and standing said quietly, with a sort of soft smile, "I will. I just have to remember things first. But I know you guys aren't lying now, that you're my parents, that this is where I came from.. At least a little about my life that didn't make sense before makes sense now."

Knocking on the door of the apartment had her raising a brow and Eva/Lila walked to the door, pulled it open. Johnny, the guy from earlier, at the hospital stood there, leaned in the doorway, a guard on either side of him, a smirk on his face as he said calmly to the guards, "You two can disperse now.. Ya frisked me, ya did everything Jason and Sonny make ya do. Ya can go now, really."

She looked at him and asked in an even and neutral tone, "Jon.. What's up?"

"Told ya.. I owed ya something.. And I'm the only damn guy I trust to guard ya." Johnny insisted as she looked at him a moment, then bit her lip as like before, another memory happened with them standing there.

_She looked up at him, her hand in her hair, biting her lip as she said quietly, "But you don't wanna do what your daddy does?"_

_The 7 year old shook his head and said calmly, "But I'm gonna have to. Nobody's left to run it. Unless I run away or something." Johnny explained to the 5 year old girl as she shook her head and muttered, "But.. If you leave.. I won't ever see ya again, Jon.. Don't you wanna see me at all?"_

"_Oh I wanna, Lil.. But I also don't want you getting caught up in the life I gotta live when we're older." Johnny admitted as he sighed and put his black leather coat around her, asked her again, "Why didn't ya wear a jacket?"_

"_Didn't have time to grabs one. I had to sneak outta the house. Daddy was real mad when he found out why I kept sneakin off to the playhouse. Him and mama were fighting and.. I just had to get outta there." Lila explained as she leaned against him, looked up. He hugged her and fluffing her hair said quietly, "They might fight, Lil.. But at least they both love ya."_

_She nodded and then hugging him back said quietly, "You my best friend, Jon.. That's never gonna change."_

"_No, Lil, it won't. No matter what." he said as he held out his pinkie and she linked hers with it. The sounds of arguing adults came closer and Johnny climbed down the ladder to the tree house, took off at a run through the woods, back towards his own house._

_He stopped about halfway back, looked over his shoulder and sighed. Sometimes, he really, really, really hated his life._

_If he had a normal life, then maybe Lila's parents wouldn't hate him. And maybe he could let Lila closer to him, without having to worry about their families getting into an all out war, one or both of them being dragged into it also._

"_You deserve better than me, Lil.. Even as a friend I could get ya hurt." he muttered quietly._

"Hey.. I need to come back later? You look tired." Johnny asked as he studied his former childhoood best friend and helped her into the den, gently forced her to sit down on the couch.

"I'm fine. Just.. everything's flooding me now.. I remember things every other second it seems like.. It's not as confusing as it was before.. I mean I am off the meds they've all been shoving down my throat since I was 6 or seven and they took me from here.." Eva/Lila admitted as she leaned back against the couch and said quietly, "Someone tried to kill me the other night."

Johnny stiffened and looked at her a few moments when she wasn't looking. She'd grown up a lot. Normally, saying something like that would rattle her, but she said this so calmly, almost as if she were telling someone the time. "You sound like that's a normal thing." he mused as she sighed and shrugging said calmly, "Let's just say I'm no stranger to it and leave it at that.. Reporters, especially truthful ones, aren't usually popular."

"Ahh." Johnny nodded as she laughed and shrugging said "So.."

"So.."

Jason cleared his throat from the doorway and said calmly, "Johnny? Get your ass out of here, now."

Eva/Lila looked from Jason to Johnny then sighed. This was awkward, now wasn't it? She finally spoke up, and it was to point out, "Trust me, Uncle Jase. I've put myself in worse danger than this guy can ever dream of, most likely."

Jason shook his head and said firmly, "No, actually, you haven't. This guy could get you killed." as he looked at her. She bit her lower lip and Johnny stood then said "Here's my number.. Maybe we can get together and catch up."

She nodded and he walked out, after hugging her. Shutting the door behind her, she leaned against the frame a moment, then bit her lower lip.

"This is so freaking confusing." she muttered as she remembered the memories that'd also surfaced about the other guy, the EMT, Logan Hayes, earlier.

She cleared her mind and then went into her room, shutting the door, booting up her laptop. If she could decode that flash drive for her mother, then maybe she could do something useful and get this whole thing over with already.

Because this.. It felt like home.


	8. a not so normal normal day pt I

The man stopped her as she was just about to get on the elevator and slid a business card into her hand, flashed a grin that would have made even the crookedest of politicians proud. Eva/Lila smirked a little and said "You must be Julian Jerome."

The man nodded and then said "Your grandfather, actually." as he flashed that smile again. She kept a neutral expression on her own face, she wasn't the type of girl given to just being sweet to anyone she met, at least until they gave her a reason.. And from what she'd heard around town in the few days since she'd been out of the hospital, this man hadn't really given her one.

"Mhmm. I 've heard, sir." Eva/Lila said as she took the hand he offered, shook it firmly, promptly letting it go as she asked, "My mom's actually upstairs if you're looking for her?"

Julian shook his head and said calmly, "Just had a member of my own writing staff quit.. I've read your work, Lila, I'm quite imp.." he started as she cut him off and said evenly, "It's Eva.. at least until I remember everything. And sir?"

"Yes?"

"I intend on remembering everything. One way or another. I'm a pretty determined girl when I want something. I usually make it happen." Eva/Lila said with a grim sort of smile as she took a bite of the apple in her hand.

For a moment, the man looked as if he were confused, then he nodded, gave her a slightly amused grin and fluffed her hair, which she hated as he said calmly, "I actually hope you do. This had to have been awful on your mother to go through, thinking you dead all these years." as the doors to the elevator slid open and he stepped off, calling out over his shoulder, "At least think about the job offer. I mean I did help pay off your student loans."

"And I'll pay back every penny." she called out in a calm voice as she rolled her eyes through a curtain of thick and curly damp dirty blonde hair, waiting patiently on the doors to the elevator to shut again. When they did, she muttered quietly, "There is something absolutely rotten about that guy, grandfather or not. What in the hell did my grandmother see in him?" to herself while puzzling over that for a few moments, scrolling through her phone, checking her email on the go.

She had a busy day today, even though her mother, her uncle/stepfather Jason AND her father all were totally against her being up and at 'em again this soon after almost dying.

But she'd told them all firmly, "Life doesn't stop just because you hit an obstacle in your way. Look, I love you all, but I'm used to doing things a certain way.. And with everything else I know about me being in question right now.. My routine's all I really have left." while giving a begging pout that'd made her father cave first, then her mother. Her uncle Jason, of course, had to take a little more than the pout to cave.

Then again, he'd sort of always, at least from the bits and pieces she had been able to remember and piece together mentally, he'd sort of always been her 'protector', he'd treated her like she was made of glass or something.

Sometimes, especially now that her memory was slowly returning, she found herself thinking that he thought she should have been his daughter with her mother, not her real father's daughter.

She'd just stepped out into the lobby when she heard her grandfather Luke call her name. "Damn it. He better not tell me to slow down and go rest, not with all the stories I've heard about him." she mumbled softly as Luke and his wife Tracy approached her.

Tracy eyed her husband's granddaughter and asked, "Isn't it a little soon for you to be up and on your feet?"

"Not actually." Eva/Lila muttered as she said patiently, "Trust me.. I've been through much worse. I'm pretty fast at bouncing back for the most part. Right now, my routine's pretty much all I have that's stable, that I actually know about myself."

Luke studied his granddaughter and asked with a slight grin, "Where are you off to?"

"PCU, actually.. Thinking I might try going to college here. If I stay, of course." she said as she took another bite from the green apple and then said "I mean hell.. I've done enough traveling for a lifetime, right?"

"You've traveled, kid?" Luke asked in slight disbelief, watching her as she dug through a worn out messenger bag, produced an almost full to bursting passport.

He flipped through it and looked up at her, chuckled. "When you were little.. You used to talk for hours about how you were going to go to all those places that Jason read to you and Michael about. You actually did it, kid.. I'm proud of you."

She smiled, let him hug her, hugging him back, the scent of his cologne, the illicit cigars that her stepgrandmother Tracy probably didn't have a clue about filling her nose.

Of all the family she met, she probably felt she shared the most in common with Luke. They'd sat on the Haunted Star for at least 3 hours earlier this week, playing poker and talking. He'd helped trigger a lot of her memories.

Second on that list was her parents, and they were tied with Jason..

Then there was her two 'friends', of course, Johnny and Logan and the different and conflicting memorie and emotions she felt around them.

So far, she'd been around the group of them the most, she'd remembered the most when with one of those people.

That's why today, she had a goal in mind.. She was going to track down and spend time with the remainder of her extended family, even if it were a few minutes here and there, and see if this might speed along her recovery, start the process of her getting the life she'd long forgotten about but could now see she missed dearly, back.

She was actually going to stop by her grandmother's office when she got done at PCU, registering for classes and the like. Then she'd probably stop by PCPD, try and beg her father into at least considering letting her train to become an officer or an investigator or something..Even if it was precinct coffee girl.. She just thought that might appeal to her, and it'd do something with her time other than sitting in her room, going insane trying to force herself to remember everything all at once.

Letting go of her grandfather, she smiled and asked with a wink, "You're gonna have a replay of poker night.. Right sir?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Lil Bit." Luke said as he hugged her again and added in a whisper, "Saw Julian lurking around earlier.. If I were you, kid.. I'd avoid that guy. Something's off with him."

She brandished the business card and said sagely, "Unfortunately, I saw him a few minutes ago. He gave me this. Wants me to work at that magazine he's got here. Not the slightest bit interested, actually.. I like the action of reporting real stories.. Not really sure I wanna write some shitty gossip column."

Luke chuckled and fluffing her hair said calmly, "That sounds about right." as he watched her walking away, laughing and shaking his head. "That kid is something else. I had no idea she'd go from princess Lil Bit, queen of the pixies, to femme Indiana Jones." he muttered to himself as Tracy groaned and said quietly, "Don't encourage her, Luke." while laughing a little herself.

Once outside the apartment building, Eva/Lila slid her earbuds in and turned up the first song that came up on her playlist, Pumped Up Kicks. She'd been looking at her phone again when she happened to hear a fast approaching car.

If she hadn't dove out of the way and back onto the sidewalk, she'd have been ran down in the garage and left for dead. She sat up, hand in her hair, biting her lower lip intently as she mulled over what'd just happened and decided that if she wanted to keep getting out of the house, she'd better keep this little run in to herself.

And she'd been intending to, but naturally, her cousin Michael saw the whole thing and he and Kiki rushed over.

"Are you okay?"

"Mike, I'm fine, damn it. But when I find that car again, the driver's not going to be." Eva/Lila muttered as Michael groaned and shaking his head said "Where the hell is your guard?"

"I ditched him, actually." Eva/Lila said as Michael looked at her with a raised brow. He and Kiki helped her up and she looked at them before saying calmly, "It's better if Sam doesn't find out about this."

"No, Li.. I mean Eva, it's not." Michael corrected himself as he looked at her in concern.

"My mother needs my help, Mike. This is not up for debate. I'm not gonna sit back and let her do all this without my help. What if she gets put in danger because of whatever the hell I know but can't remember?" Eva/Lila asked with a hand on her hip.

Kiki shied back, she'd learned when Michael and Lila butted heads, it was better if one did not interrupt. Even if Lila were older, Michael still treated her as if he were the older of the two, he still appointed himself her protector. That was one of many reasons she'd fallen for him, of course. But she could tell that currently, it was not amusing his cousin Lila.

"Can I remind you, Michael.. I am the older one?" Eva/Lila asked as Michael said calmly, "Yeah? Well you're a girl. You can't just go running head first into something, especially when you have no idea what you might be running into."

"Ughh. Damn it, Mike, I can't with you." Eva/Lila grumbled as a throat clearing from behind her had her turning around, smashing chest first into Logan who asked with an amused smirk, "Everything okay?"

"It'd be great if my cousin here would just let me handle shit on my own. What are you up to?" Eva/Lila asked as Logan said "Taking some stuff your dad found in your car up to your mom. He seemed to think it was important she saw it or something.. Where the holy hell are your guards, hon?"

"I ditched them." Eva/Lila explained as Logan grumbled and said "Seriously? Did we not have this argument earlier? You need guards. Someone tried to kill you."

"Yeah? Well they did a shit job. Now I'm gonna find out why and stop them." Eva/Lila insisted firmly as Logan gave what he'd been sent to give to Sam to Michael and asked him to do that, as he said "No hell you're not. You're gonna come with me.. We'll go do whatever it was that you were gonna go and do without the guards, together."

"Damn it.. You.. Ughh.. You and Mike. I'm not made of glass." Eva/Lila muttered as Logan said simply, "I know.. But I don't want anything happening to ya either, Blondie."

"He's right, Eva.. You should go with him.. I mean someone did just try and finish the job." Michael stated firmly. Logan's gaze shifted to Eva/Lila and she grumbled, waving Michael off as she called out, "Just get your butt outta here, Mike. Seriously. I'll be fine."

"Don't sound like it, Blondie." Logan chuckled as his face filled with concern and he asked quietly, "You're okay, right?"

"Yes. All that happened was I probably bruised my ass when I jumped back and landed on the sidewalk on it."

He blinked a little.. When they'd been kids, even a scratch had been enough to make the girl standing beside him pout.. Now she was almost getting ran down in parking garages and not even batting an eyelash or screaming.

What had she been through while she'd been gone?

Either way, he found himself in awe of the girl she'd grown up and grown into. Confident, sarcastic, intelligent, quick on her feet and feisty.. God, she was feisty.

He'd seen shades of that when they'd been kids but now...

She literally was the entire package. And he'd be damned if he just sit back and let Zacarra stake his claim.


	9. a not so normal normal day pt II

"Well, how'd it go at PCU?" Alexis asked her granddaughter, casting a raised brow at the fact that Logan Hayes was apparently escorting her around town today. Scott, of course, smiled a little and nudged her, prompting her to give him a firm glare.

"It went. I won't say it went well, I won't say it went badly, but it damn sure did not go smoothly." Eva/Lila said as Alexis asked, "What do you mean?" as she studied her granddaughter in concern. Eva/Lila raked a hand through her hair and said "Speed demon here got us a ticket from the campus security guard for one thing." as she shot Logan a mostly teasing glare then continued to say, "And then there's the fact that half of the classes I was taking at my old college are online here. I prefer going into the classroom."

Scott watched his son and when Alexis took Lila/Eva into the other room, he got Logan off to the side and whispered "Seriously? What were you doing, just hauling ass through the campus?"

Logan grumbled and then said "We were having a discussion. I didn't realize I was going ten miles over the fucking limit. I'll handle it, I mean it's my fault."

"Damn right you're going to handle it." Scott said as he looked at his son, smiling a little as he shook his head. "What?" Logan asked as he tore open a peppermint he'd grabbed from the basket full of them that sat on the edge of the desk near the door and looked at his father. His dad was up to something, or he thought he was going to do something. Logan had seen the look before, he knew pretty much what to expect next.

"Just thinking that maybe this time you'll pick the right damn Spencer for once?" Scott asked as Logan grumbled and said calmly, "She's just getting her head back on straight, dad, jesus."

"Which is exactly why you do something now as opposed to later, son." Scott said firmly as Logan raised a brow and asked, "Serena didn't give you and Lucy enough grandkids or something?"

"I just want to see both my kids happy, so sue me.. Then there's your older brother Franco.. But we won't discuss that right now, will we?"

"Speaking of, Dad.. He's got a new art show or something.. Apparently, it's gonna be at that new art gallery in the Metro Court." Logan said as he dug around in his pocket, produced the flyer Franco had given him earlier that day before adding, " Between us, old man.. I really think you oughta at least try with the guy. I mean the tumor is what made him do the stuff he did."

Scott mulled it over and then nudged Logan, the pair falling silent.

Alexis and Eva/Lila came back into the room, Alexis fuming as she looked at the business card Julian slipped Eva/Lila that morning and asking, "And he had the absolute nerve to bring up your student loans from the other college, how he paid them off?"

"Mhmm.. But trust me.. Just as soon as I find a job, I'm gonna make sure I pay him off. Get the feeling I don't want to owe him anything, to be honest. Nor do I want to work for the guy." Eva/Lila admitted as Logan spoke up, "He's a damn mobster anyway."

Eva/Lila raised a brow then nodded as she said calmly, "Well aware of that, all the more reason I do not care for him coming around my mom and my baby brother. I mean.. I just remembered my family. I don't want something he does taking them. Then I'll be.." she trailed off as she bit her lower lip, letting the last part of her sentence go unsaid. They didn't know about her having been alone for the majority of her teenage life, and not really having had a family before that, due to her supposed 'mental illness' that she now obviously knew as a cover for the people who'd taken and raised her wanting to keep her from remembering her real family, her friends and where she really came from.

"What?" Alexis asked as Eva/Lila bit her lip and muttered quietly, "Nothing. I forgot what I was gonna say, actually." weakly. Alexis studied her a moment, fully aware now, thanks to what Sam dug up about Lila/Eva's childhood that she had been alone for nearly all of it, when she wasn't in an asylum somewhere, she was being left with nannies, or the fact that the people who'd raised her died when she was a teenager.

So she could pretty much guess where her granddaughter was heading with the statement she didn't finish aloud.

"Did you sign up for any classes?" Alexis asked, changing the subject to ease Lila/Eva's tension. Her granddaughter nodded and said "Actually, I did. I signed up for a few classes." as she dug through her worn out messenger bag, handed her grandmother her schedule.

Alexis smiled and then raised a brow as she asked, "Do you believe in free time at all, sweetheart? If this schedule is right, and you do find part time work, you won't have time for anything but sleep." in concern.

Eva/Lila shrugged and said calmly, "It's the same schedule almost that I had in New Jersey. I'll be okay, I promise. I'm a night owl anyway, I hardly sleep at night.. Stuff keeps me awake."

"What stuff?"

"Just things Grandma. It's nothing huge." Eva/Lila muttered as she smiled and then said " I talked to Dad about working at the station.."

"He said no, didn't he?" Alexis asked hopefully as Logan laughed and then said with a smirk, "Oh boy did he say no. I think the last time I saw Lucky that determined not to cave in.." falling silent. He remembered how strained things were with Lulu and Eva/Lila when they were kids, so he didn't mention his having dated her, or how Lucky openly objected to the mere thought of Logan with his baby sister.

He had to wonder now, if given the circumstances, just which way Lucky would lean when it came to the choice between himself and Johnny, as far as Eva/Lila went.

"He said maybe, damn it. He didn't completely say no." Eva/Lila argued as Logan snickered and Scott said "Guessing he actually did say no, but she's now gotten it into her head that is exactly what she wants, huh?" as he looked at Eva/Lila who dropped her eyes and muttered, "Nope."

Alexis said casually, "We do need help here."

"Yeah, the place is a little bit messy with three of us sharing an office." Scott said as Alexis mouthed "Thank you." before turning her attention back to her granddaughter and saying, "The pay's not that great, but we can work around your school schedule and it'll give me more time with you." while smiling hopefully.

Eva/Lila thought it over and nodded then smiling said "Yeah. I think I'd like that. When do you guys need me to start?"

"When you're healed." both adults said in unison as she groaned and muttered ,"And again, I say it. I'm not made of glass."

"But you almost died. You shouldn't even be up now, and you really shouldn't have left your mom's after what happened in the parking garage." Logan blurted, the two sets of adult eyes shifting to her as she said through a mouth full of peppermint, "What? Some idiot was flying like a bat out of hell through the garage, and they didn't slow down. I was smart enough to move, sheesh, Logan.. It's not like the guy was coming after me."

"It's not like he wasn't, either." Alexis said in concern as she asked, "Have you told your mother about this?"

The look Eva/Lila gave her pretty much confirmed that she hadn't told Sam, and she probably hadn't been intending on it, either. "You have to tell her."

"If I tell her, I'll be locked up in the complex and I'll never get out." Eva/Lila groaned as she added, "It could have been a coincidence."

"Someone cut the brakes on your car. Chances are, sweetheart, it was not a coincidence." Alexis scolded gently as she held out the phone, pointed her granddaughter to the door giving her a firm look.

"Okay, alright.. I'll tell her. Not like they'll find the guy though. He's probably long gone by now." Eva/Lila said as Alexis said "It doesn't matter, she still needs to know."

Eva/Lila gave Logan a slight glare as she walked out in the hallway to call her mother and tell her what happened in the parking garage that morning, and Alexis turned to Logan and said calmly, "Thanks for telling me that. I just have this feeling she's gotten entirely too used to taking matters into her own hands."

Logan chuckled and nodding said "She has. Argued with the security guard on campus for over 10 minutes about the ticket." as Alexis laughed a little and then said quietly, "It just worries me, all of us, what she might have went through, the long term effects of what it might have done to her."

Eva/Lila walked in again and said quietly, "She told me to go back to PCPD and talk to Dad about it. Give him the plates and the description of the car. And she told me that if I ditch the guards again, she's going to kick my ass." as she managed a sheepish smile then turned to Logan, elbowing him lightly.

Hugging her grandmother, she said with a slight smile, "I'll come by tonight and see Molly and we can all watch a movie or something?"

"They'd like that and I'd love that." Alexis said with a smile as she told Logan, "Take her straight to PCPD. No detours."

Once they were out in the hallway, Eva/Lila looked at him and asked calmly, "What the hell did you do that for?"

"Because, hon.. Someone did try to run you down in the garage." Logan pointed out as she grumbled and then muttered, "And now, thanks to you snitching, I'm never gonna find the whole reason why. This was on me to handle, Baldwin, damn it."

"What'd you just call me?"

She thought back and jumped up and down a little as she realized that she'd inadvertently used his last name, remembering it on her own. "Baldwin. Your name is Logan Houston Baldwin, is it not?"

He smiled and nodding said "Memory's comin back, huh?"

"Apparently so." Eva/Lila said as she bit her lower lip and another small flash of a memory came...

_'She's always so mean to me.' a 4 year old Lila sniffled as she glared across the daycare's small and noisy play area at her older aunt Lulu before dodging under a table, with her favorite doll, so Lulu couldn't find her and take the doll again._

_Seconds later, the table's cloth rose and a much bigger boy with a goofy grin and bright bluish gray eyes slid underneath, said loudly, "Yuck. If Lulu doesn't stop tryin to kiss me, I'm gonna hurl." before stopping, straining his ears to hear, hearing the sounds of sniffling._

_The little girl was huddled in the back of the space, against the wall the table rested against, wearing pink high top converses with pink and lime green leggings, a denim skirt and a pink and green t shirt with a panda bear on it. Her pig tails were falling down and she was mumbling to herself, obviously angry and upset about something._

_Logan slid over and asked quietly, "You alright?"_

_Lila shook her head then said "My stupid aunt." before looking up shyly._

"_You the new boy.. L-logan.." Lila stuttered a little as Logan smiled and nodded then said "Don't know your name."_

"_Lila." the little girl sniffled as she peeked out from beneath the table a moment, trying to make sure nobody was looking for her, so she wouldn't get in trouble for hiding. She had already one time earlier in the week._

_But she didn't even want to be here in the first place.. Her daddy worked, her mommy was working now, and her uncle Jason worked, her daddy's girlfriend worked as well as her grandmother. And her 'aunt' Brenda was in Italy.. So she really didn't have anyone who could keep her during the day, during the summer._

"_That's a pretty name." Logan said as he scowled at himself. Pretty name?_

_Girls had cooties, all of 'em._

_But she was kinda cute..._

_The blond boy shoved the pesky thoughts out of his brain and then said "I can beat her up." as he shrugged shyly._

"_You cannot. She's your girlfriend, stupid. She kisses you on the cheek all the time." Lila said as she shook her head, gave him an unamused scowl._

"_She's not my girlfriend. She's gross." Logan said as Lila giggled a little then dug around in the pocket of her skirt, producing two small fun sized Milky Way bars, holding one out to him. He took it, opened it and said through a mouth full, "Thanks."_

"_Welcome." Lila muttered as she moved just a teeny bit closer. He smiled a little and then asked, "How old are ya?"_

_She held up 4 fingers then asked, "You?"_

_He held up 7 fingers and she gaped at him as if she were in shock then said with a quiet smile, "Pretty eyes."_

"_Huh?" Logan asked as she said with a groan, "I said.. You has pretty eyes. Not as pretty as my friend Jon's.." and smacked her own forehead, shaking her head at him._

"_Thanks.. I think." Logan said quietly as he held out a comic book._

"_Read it to me?" she asked as he looked at her a moment, and then scooted them both back against the wall. She leaned against him a little to see the pictures better, and he slid his arm around her._

_The bell that meant that their parents would be there soon rang, and he was about to poke her awake, but Officer Spencer raised the table cloth and smiled at him, thanking him, as he picked up the little girl and carried her out._

_He watched them walking out and Lucy, his dad's sorta crazy friend nudged him and asked, "So that's where you got off to, huh? Is that your little girlfriend?"_

"_Somethin like that." Logan mumbled as he grabbed his sister's bag, helped her into her jacket. She wasn't much younger than the little girl he'd spent half the day hiding underneath the table with._

"I asked ya, are you okay, hon?" Logan asked, cutting through her memory. She looked at him a moment, smiled and shrugged a little then said "I'm good. Just remembered something."

"Well? What was it?" Logan asked as he looked at her, wondering what she might have remembered just now. Had it been something about them? He could look at her and tell that she wasn't intending on telling him, so for the moment, he let the matter drop and instead, worked on unlocking the car. "Why the hell do ya insist on drivin a car this damn small anyway?" he asked as she said calmly, "Because it's good for the enviorment. It's not as smoggy as that truck you drive."

"Hey.. Say what you want, hon, but that truck's a hell of a lot more likely to make it outta a wreck than this car." Logan said as he muttered quietly, "Anyway." and flipped through the radio, finding a station when she started humming along to the song playing on it. "Ya used to do that a lot, before.."

She nodded and blew a bubble with her gum then said "It's a nervous reflex or something I guess." as he smiled to himself a little. She used to hum around him a lot when they were kids.. And blush.. And clam up.

PCPD came into view and they parked, getting out, walking back inside the station for the second time that day. Lila found her father and tapped him on the shoulder. Lucky turned around and hugged her, smiled as he said " Back again?"

"Mhmm.. I need to talk to you, dad." Eva/Lila said as he looked at her and said quietly, "I'm not gonna like this, am I?"

"Probably not, sir. But if I don't tell you, mom's probably going to kick my ass." Eva/Lila said as Lucky lead her into his office and shut the door behind him. "What's up?"

"This morning in the parking garage, this car came flying out of nowhere.. It kinda seemed like it wanted to run me down? I mean it could be nothing, sir." Eva/Lila started as Lucky looked at her and went all business as he said calmly, doing his best to keep his anger at bay, "Okay, sit down, start from the beginning."

Eva/Lila sat down and told him everything that'd happened, ending with, "But like I said, it could have been a coincidence." as Lucky asked her, "Have you seen the car before?"

She shook her head and then muttered, "But the driver looked familiar.. Like, not totally, I mean I couldn't actually see him well.."

"Do you think it's the same guy from outside the Floating Rib, the night you wrecked?" Lucky asked as he jotted everything down.

"It could be.. I mean the guy's face was hidden from me that night too..." Eva/Lila said as she bit her lower lip, her mind going a million miles at once. Lucky shook his head and said firmly, "You are not going off and getting in any deeper in this. Understood?"

She nodded, but deep down, she knew that if she didn't at least try to handle this some how, it'd drive her insane. Sighing she said quietly, "Yes sir. So, are the boys still doing that Christmas thing? I thought I might come watch.. What night is it?"

"It's tomorrow night, and your brothers would love it if you were there." Lucky said as he smiled and hugged her again, muttered quietly, "I'm just so glad you're not gone.. That you're back here, where you belong."

"Me too, dad." Eva/Lila muttered as she hugged him a little longer, then said "You be safe, damn it." before walking out of his office and out of the station.

Logan caught up to her and she said calmly, "One way or another.. I'm gonna find out who's behind all this before anyone I care about gets hurt. To hell with the consequences."

Logan grumbled and then said aloud, "That's not a.."

"I don't care if it's not a good idea. Someone out there went to a lot of trouble to keep my brain fuzzy, keep me from having a normal life. I want my revenge, damn it. I want all this to be over." Lila said as he sighed and nodded.

Maybe if she had help, she wouldn't get in so deep..

And it'd give him time to convince her Johnny wasn't the best guy for her.


	10. a night out

She bent over the pool table, aiming the ball at the side pocket, her tongue flicking between her lips in determination as she said calmly, "And this, Maxie.. When I sink this, this will be kicking your ass." as Maxie laughed and said calmly, "Well are you going to shoot the ball or stand there and talk about how perfect your shot will be?"

"Eat it, Jones." Eva/Lila mumbled as Johnny walked over, leaned in behind her and said quietly in her ear, "You won't make it.. I mean unless you let me show ya a few pointers." as he sipped a beer slowly. She looked up at him and scowled in non amusement a few moments as Johnny chuckled and then said "Do you really wanna blow 40 dollars on a mistimed shot?"

"Fine, damn it." Eva/Lila caved in moments later as she let him stand behind her, his hands guiding her arms and hands into place on the poolstick as he said casually, "Now shoot it." as he stepped back. Her skin still tingled from his hands being on it, but she shoved it out of her head and aimed, shooting the cue ball at the orange she was trying to make in. The ball went into the hole effortlessly and she turned to him, high fived him.

"That's cheating." Maxie gaped as Eva/Lila giggled and said "But you never said I couldn't have any outside help.. Coops been helping you all damn night."

"But he's my husband.. Johnny is nothing to you." Maxie said as she gave Johnny a blunt look. Johnny rolled his eyes and then said with a shrug, "Who's your best guy, blondie?"

Eva/Lila bit her lower lip as she smirked and didn't answer, just took a huge sip of the drink in her hands as she slid onto a stool, waved Mack over, laughing to herself at her current inner turmoil. From down the bar Amanda and Morgan laughed at something they'd been talking about quietly and Eva/ Lila looked around at all of her friends and family members in the bar currently.

The closer it got to Valentines day, the more everyone paired off it seemed like. Normally this didn't bug her, but she was finally home, her life was finally falling into place. Now apparently she was learning she had two guys that'd been of equal importance in her life before and they both wanted back in, they both wanted that number one spot in her heart.

And she didn't want to hurt either of them, Johnny or Logan. She had a short but vivid history with both males and that made this entire thing a whole lot more agonizing. She shotgunned her beer as she lightly hit her head against the bar's wooden surface.

"What's wrong with you?" Lulu asked as Eva/Lila looked up and said "Oh not a damn thing, Lulu.. I mean except for being right smack in the middle of two guys.. Not knowing who to choose, what to do around either of 'em. It's damn infuriating." she muttered as Lulu nodded and said "Just some family advice.. You need to listen to your heart and not your head. Because if you listen to your head you won't ever do anything you really want to do and you'll miss out on a lot."

She stuck her thumb up at her cousin and said casually, "Goin for a smoke y'all." as she slid off the stool and walked out into the cold night, leaned against the brick wall.

She almost jumped a mile into the air as the shadow spoke up and said "Smoking's a bad habit."

"So's lurking in the fucking dark trying to scare the shit out of me. Here's a tip, mister.. If you want to say something or do it, then go for it. I'm right fucking here and I'm not intimidated. You're the douche who tried to run over me in the garage, I'm assuming."

"No, I'm not.. But I do know him." the male said as he sighed and said "You should stop poking around in why you were taken. Just be happy with what you have right now. Because little girl, if you keep digging, well.. I'm afraid you're going to dig your own early grave." the man said as he turned and walked away.

Eva/Lila rubbed her arms as she glared after the man, fists clenched in anger. "Just once I wish he'd get close enough I could make out some kind of facial features. All I can do is id his voice. He's just a big fucking ski mask wearing chicken." she said as she turned to walk back into the bar.

She sat down at the bar angrily and fumed as Johnny asked from the stool next to her, "Ya okay?"

"Doing just fucking stellar, Jon. About to kill a man, but hey.. Other than that, I'm doing awesome." she mumbled as she looked at him. Her eyes gave her away and he asked in quiet concern "What's wrong?"

"That guy showed up just now.. Made a vague threat." she muttered as Johnny stood and then started to walk out of the bar with his hand in his pocket. She caught him and said in his ear "He's gone, Jon. You won't find him."

"The hell I won't, Lil." Johnny said as she gave him a pleading look with her eyes. He sighed and said "For now it's okay. .But I'm gonna get every guy I got on this, damn it. Hell, we both know PCPD isn't going to hurry and do anything about it." as she said quietly, "Whoever's behind it all doesn't want me to dig around about why I might have been taken."

"And maybe you shouldn't. I mean you're back now." Johnny said as she looked at him with her hand on her hip. "Seriously, Jon.. You of all people know why I can't let it go. It cost me my damn life almost. And the parts I got to live were so damn confusing that I basically just gave up trying to piece together why nothing ever actually felt right."

He nodded and Morgan called out to him "Gonna walk Amanda home.. She's a little tipsy. The keys to the nightclub are with Mack, man." as Johnny gave him a thumbs up before turning his attention back to Eva/Lila and saying quietly, "I get it.. But maybe this person's right.. I mean do you really have to know who's behind it all?"

"God damn it, Jon, yes. I have to know because I want to meet them and kick the living shit out of them okay? This is my life they screwed around with like it was some kind of game." Eva/Lila said quietly as he sighed and then said "Okay, alright.. I get it. I can't say I blame ya either.. But I don't want you getting hurt either.. Or worse.. I mean what if this guy's serious? What if you do find out something and you die because of it?"

She grumbled and then said casually, "Wanna play darts?"

"Nah.. wanna walk over to the nightclub with me? I need to lock the place up." Johnny asked as she nodded and grabbed her coat, slipping out. She stole a look back at Logan and then reminded herself that she didn't have to make a decision by a certain time.

Things would work themselves out soon hopefully. She couldn't take much more of the being torn between two. And she didn't want to be put into a position to hurt either of them.


End file.
